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What we find in the book of Malachi 
is the prophet of God indicting the people of God for their violation 
of the covenant of God. Specifically, in chapter 1, beginning 
in verse 6, all the way to chapter 2 and verse 9, we have a unit. Specifically, it is a condemnation 
of the priesthood. But our subject tonight will 
focus on worship, their abuse with reference to the public 
worship of the living and true God. That is in chapter 1, verses 
6 to 14. So we want to consider tonight 
the necessity of acceptable worship. As I mentioned this morning, 
worship is the highest privilege that a creature can engage in. 
It is the reason for which God made us. He made man upright. We were to worship Him. Adam 
was to function as a prophet and a priest and a king over 
creation so that he could commune with God. extend the garden temple 
of God to create more worshippers, so that the world would be filled 
with the knowledge of God, and that God would be glorified. 
But because of sin, because of our apostasy, because of our 
defection, we have not worshipped as we ought. So in redemption, 
God comes to save us from our sins through the blood of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and He does so to make us worshippers. So public worship is a very crucial 
aspect of the Christian life. And that's what we will consider 
tonight. Let's just read the chapter and 
set it in its context. Beginning in verse 1 of Malachi 
chapter 1. The burden of the word of the 
Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, says the Lord. 
Yet you say, in what way have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's 
brother, says the Lord? Yet Jacob I have loved, but Esau 
I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage 
for the jackals of the wilderness. Even though Edom has said, we 
have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate 
places. Thus says the Lord of hosts. They may build, but I will throw 
down. They shall be called the territory 
of wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord will have 
indignation forever. Your eyes shall see, and you 
shall say, The Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel. 
A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then 
I am the father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, 
where is my reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you 
priests who despise my name. Yet you say, In what way have 
we despised your name? You offer defiled food on my 
altar, but say, in what way have we defiled you? By saying, the 
table of the Lord is contemptible. And when you offer the blind 
as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and 
sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor. 
Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, 
says the Lord of hosts? But now entreat God's favor, 
that he may be gracious to us, While this is being done by your 
hands, will he accept you favorably, says the Lord of hosts? Who is 
there even among you who would shut the doors, so that you would 
not kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, 
says the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your 
hands. For from the rising of the sun 
even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles. 
In every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a 
pure offering. For my name shall be great among 
the nations, says the Lord of hosts. But you profane it in 
that you say, the table of the Lord is defiled, and its food 
is contemptible. You also say, oh, what a weariness, 
and you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts. And you bring 
the stolen, the lame, and the sick. Thus you bring an offering. Should I accept this from your 
hand, says the Lord? But cursed be the deceiver who 
has in his flock a male, and takes a vow, but sacrifices to 
the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great king, says the 
Lord of hosts, and my name is to be feared among the nations. 
Amen. Let us pray. Father, thank you 
for your word and thank you for giving us this information so 
that we may hopefully conduct ourselves aright in the public 
place. We ask our Father that you would guide us by your Holy 
Spirit, that you would help us to learn the lessons of Scripture. 
God, may these things be an encouragement and may they indeed be a help 
to us as a local church. We thank you for the coming of 
another year. We pray that you would bless 
this church with peace. We ask that you would bless this 
church with unity. We ask that you would bless this 
church with conversions. We pray that sinners would come 
among us and that you would be well pleased to bless the proclamation 
of the gospel for the salvation of souls. And as well, God, may 
it be the case that each and every one in this church would 
grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ. And it's in His name that we 
pray. Amen. So as I said, Malachi is post-exilic. He operates, or he came after 
Haggai and Zechariah, not just in terms of the structure of 
the Old Testament canon here in the English Bible, but date-wise. He prophesied probably between 
433 and 425, just to give you a bit of a background. Ezra is 
one of the men who returned to Judah. He went back in about 
458 BC and then Nehemiah in 445 BC. When you compare Malachi 
with those books of Ezra and Nehemiah, you see many of the 
same sorts of abuses being dealt with. There was marriage with 
pagans that was condemned in the book of Nehemiah. You see 
the same thing here in chapter 2. You see violations in terms 
of tithing. Malachi speaks to that in chapter 
3, as do Ezra and Nehemiah. So this was, or they were contemporaries 
by not just a few years, more than a few years, but nevertheless, 
that's the time frame that we are in, in this book of Malachi. So as we consider the necessity 
of acceptable worship, I want to look at three sections in 
this chapter. First, the accusation by God. Secondly, the response of the 
people. And then thirdly, we'll draw 
out some implications or some facts concerning unacceptable 
worship, as it is portrayed here. And what Malachi does, he functions 
sort of like an attorney. Now, many of the prophets do 
this. They sue the people of God. God is angry with the nation 
of Israel. They have violated the covenant. 
So God raises up a prophet. He sends the prophet. And the 
prophet functions similarly to a prosecuting attorney. He comes 
in the name of God. He comes with the authority of 
God. And he brings accusation and indictment to bear upon the 
people of God. And there is a recurring pattern 
here in the prophet Malachi. He gives this assertion of what 
they had done, and then the people give this sort of questioning 
response, as if they're surprised at the suggestion that they had 
not been living as they ought. We'll see that as we move through 
our passage tonight. But note first the accusation 
by God, and there's four things to consider here. The first is 
that the people of Israel failed to honor God as God. This is the fundamental problem 
with mankind. In Romans chapter 1, when the 
apostle indicts man for having knowledge about God, but suppressing 
that knowledge or truth in unrighteousness, Paul summarizes by saying, who 
although they knew God, they did not honor God, nor were their 
hearts thankful. We expect that from the heathen. 
We expect that from the pagan. It's not right. We don't justify 
it. But the covenant nation, the 
covenant people of God know better. The Lord God had brought them 
out of the land of Egypt. The Lord God had chastened them, 
to be sure, sending them into exile in Babylon. But God brought 
them out of that. God promises and promises and 
promises good things to His covenant people. And yet, instead of esteeming 
Him, instead of praising Him, instead of honoring and glorifying 
Him, look at what He says in verse 6. He says, A son honors 
his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the father, 
where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is 
my reverence? That is a very easy analogy to 
try and put our minds around. A son honors his father, or sons 
should honor their fathers, and servants honor their masters, 
or servants should honor their masters. So God then draws the 
necessary implication. If sons do this for fathers, 
if servants do this for masters, where then is my honor, says 
the Lord? The people of God, instead of 
honoring, praising, glorifying, worshiping and adoring Him, had 
not done that whatsoever. And we need to see that God sees 
this. God knows the heart. God knows 
what's happening when we come to the public place. God knows 
if we are seeking His honor, if we are seeking His glory, 
or if we're in it for some other reason. Are we simply here to 
satisfy requirements? Are we simply here because this 
is what we're supposed to do? Are we simply here because if 
I don't go, my mom or dad will give me a good licking with the 
bell? We need to come to honor the Lord Most High. You see, 
we owe Him this not only by virtue of creation, The creature owes 
honor to the Creator. But by virtue of redemption, 
we are new men and new women in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus 
lived in obedience to the law that we could never do. The Lord 
Jesus went to the cross on our behalf, something that we could 
never do. The Lord Jesus satisfied divine 
justice through His punishment. And we are the benefactors of 
that reality. So certainly when we come here, 
it isn't simply to see one another and encourage one another, though 
that is a part of the blessing of being in church. The primary 
element and the primary responsibility on the Lord's Day is to praise 
the Lord of the day. It isn't our day, it isn't our 
house, it's God's house, it's God's day, and therefore we bring 
honor and glory and honor to Him. To you priests, notice what 
he says at the end of verse 6, who despise my name. Notice, as well, they had perverted 
sacrifice. Remember I said that the people 
asked the question, that they're shocked, they're surprised, they're 
put off. But what do you mean, me? Look 
at the end of verse 6. Yet you say, in what way have 
we despised your name? You see, they were going through 
the motions, they were going to the right place, they were 
bringing the right items, they were going through the right 
ceremony, but they were not doing so with the heart. They were 
not doing so with a view to the worship of God. And when God 
calls them on it, they say it, in what way have we despised 
your name? In short, they said, who, us? 
Me? Are you kidding? Of course I'm 
doing the right thing. And then God tells them what 
it is that he has been offended by. Note the perversion of sacrifice. Verses 7 and 8. You offer defiled 
food on my altar. But say, in what way have we 
defiled you? By saying the table of the Lord 
is contemptible. And when you offer the blind 
as a sacrifice, is it not evil? They bring defiled food, blind 
sacrifice, lame and sick sacrifice. The table is defiled. Leviticus 
22 very well specifies that defective animals were not to be offered 
as a sacrifice. You got to kind of put yourself 
in their shoes for just a moment. Imagine you're a worshipper. 
Imagine it's the day to go to the temple. Imagine you need 
to bring an animal. You know what they do when you 
get there with that animal. You lay your hands on its head, 
they cut the throat, and then they offer it up to the Lord 
God. So you're getting ready on a Sabbath morning, and you're 
looking at your flock, and you're seeing the best, you're seeing 
the choicest, you're seeing the most wonderful animals, and you 
walk right past them to find the blind one. to find the lame 
one, to find the sick one, because you're going to pull that with 
you on the way to the temple, and you're going to give that 
to God. What does that reflect about God? It says about God 
that He is not worthy of the best. He doesn't deserve the 
best. I am not going to give Him the 
best because the best will bring me more happiness. It'll fetch 
me more money at market. It'll fetch me better food on 
my table. You see, it was all about them 
and it wasn't about God. A son honors his father, a servant 
honors his master. If I'm a father, if I'm a master, 
where is my honor? You bring the worst of the animals, 
you trot them into the temple, you lay your hands on them, you 
cut their throats, you go through the motions, but your heart is 
wrong. This is not sacrifice, brethren. If you are not giving to the 
point where it actually deprives you of something, it's not sacrifice. Remember, Jesus commended the 
widow in her might. Why? Because the men were giving 
out of their abundance. She was giving to the point where 
it hurt. These people weren't doing that. 
These people were perverting the sacrificial system. Note 
God's challenge in verse 8. He says, And when you offer the 
lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor. 
Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, 
says the Lord of hosts." In other words, just imagine for a moment 
that for Revenue Canada you get stuck with a bill in March or 
April. I mean, I'm not hoping that on anyone. I hope that you 
get just the opposite, you get a nice big refund. But imagine 
for a moment, Revenue Canada sticks you with a bill. And just 
imagine that we pay with animals. Look at what God says. The Persians 
were the world empire at this particular time. Offer it then 
to the Persian governor. Send him a lamed animal. Send 
him a sick animal. Send him, you know, the loser 
in a battle on the farmyard. Send him the three-legged beast. Is he going to be pleased? Is 
he going to say you've paid your debt? Is he going to say you 
have rendered what is acceptable to Revenue Canada? Absolutely 
not! You see, we have specific guidelines 
when it comes to dealing with equals. But when it comes to 
dealing with God, we'll pare off the edges, we'll cut the 
corners, we'll shave off money, and we'll shave off time. Because 
after all, God is forgiving, and He's gracious, and He's kind. 
But He's not forgiving, gracious, and kind so that we'll abuse 
those attributes. So that will pervert the structure 
that he has put into place. Offer it to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? And notice as well in verse 8 
what he says. Is it not evil? Is it not evil? It's not a small 
thing that we're dealing with. This is specifically an abuse 
with reference to worship. I wonder how many of us would 
be so prone to just discount acts of theft. acts of murder, 
acts of adultery, and say, well, you know, it's not that big of 
a deal. And yet, when it comes to perverting the worship of 
God, it's not that big of a deal. Well, Malachi 1 challenges that 
mindset. Malachi 1 says it is a big deal. It is to despise the name of 
God. It is to engage in evil. Careless 
or unacceptable worship is not pleasing in the sight of God. 
Notice what else the Lord accuses them with. They are bored in 
worship. Notice in verse 13. Well, verse 
12. But you profane it in that you 
say, the table of the Lord is defiled, and its food is contemptible. You also say, oh, what a weariness. And you sneer at it, says the 
Lord of hosts. Now, I'm not going to say this 
is the most exciting church on the face of the earth. But I 
would like to ask, why in the world is it excitement that we're 
shopping for in church life? I went to that church and it 
was boring. I don't even know how to process 
that sometimes. You don't go to church for thrills 
the way you jump off a cliff with a bungee cord wrapped around 
your foot. Skydiving is thrilling and exhilarating. Deep sea fishing in a storm when 
you're about to fall off the boat, thrilling and exhilarating. The worship of the triune God 
is not those things. I personally think there is thrill 
and there is exhilaration in singing Psalm 110 to our great 
God. I personally find it very exhilarating 
to go through the hymns that we have in our Trinity Hymnal. 
And I personally find it very exhilarating to go to the Scriptures 
of both the Old and the New Testaments. But how is it that we're gauging 
what is thrilling and exciting? It's unfortunate that some churches 
play to this particular thing. I saw something last year. The 
pastor rappelled in on a rope I guarantee you that will never 
happen here. Unless Pastor Cam wants to take 
that up, I am deathly afraid of heights and it won't happen. 
Unless I fell off and I happen to have a bungee wrapped around 
my leg. When did this become worship? 
When did jugglers up front become worship? When did this happen, 
brethren? And why is it our exhilaration 
and our thrill the mark of what matters. Look at what the people 
said. You also say, oh, what a weariness, 
and you sneer at it, says the Lord of hosts. Consider the typical 
worship experience of the Israelite in this particular context. They'd 
wake up on Sabbath morning, they'd collect their animal, they'd 
walk to the house of the Lord, hopefully singing Psalm 122, 
I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of 
the Lord. They went there, they laid their 
hand on the animal, they stroked the animal, they cut the animal's 
neck, they bled it out, the animal was sacrificed, they got a portion 
to eat, they praised, they worshipped, they glorified God. They didn't 
come in on helicopters, they didn't come in playing paintball, 
they didn't come in repelling from wires. You see, even this, 
for them, was a weariness. What a weariness! I can't be 
bothered. Church is too boring. It's not 
exciting enough. It's not thrilling enough. It 
doesn't satisfy me enough. Now, something interesting. We 
always are looking for what we get out of something. Does it 
ever occur to us that on a Sunday morning, it might be the case 
that our presence at church may encourage someone else My presence 
in church might be a boon or a benefit or a help to someone 
who is in need? Is the question that we ask when 
we fall out of bed on a Sunday morning is, what am I going to 
get out of this today? You know, I've quoted it before, 
John F. Kennedy. I'm not necessarily endorsing 
his political stance, but he made that good statement. I don't 
know if it was unique to him or if he had a speechwriter, 
but it fits. Ask not what your country can 
do for you, but what you can do for your country. We live 
in a narcissistic age, a me-centered age, an age that focuses primarily 
upon my benefit. And it carries into the church. 
People are consumers when it comes to church life. They have 
a clean nursery. They have puppet shows. They 
have ponies. They have helicopter rides. They 
have rappelling. They have a rock wall up in the 
fellowship hall. Well, they don't even call it 
a fellowship hall because that's a throwback to when people actually 
fellowshiped. It's exciting! No, we are called 
by Jesus in John 4, 24 to worship God in spirit and truth. It is truth that must guide our 
worship. It is the Holy Spirit, not the 
repelling spirit, not the thrilling spirit, but the Holy Spirit that 
brings about the worship experience. And woe to us if we are bored 
with God and we express it, maybe not verbally, I doubt anybody 
would be this bold to say, oh, what a weariness. I mean, actually, 
that's probably not true. I don't want to go there. It's 
pretty boring. Oh, what a weariness. And you sneer at it, says the 
Lord of hosts. And then notice what it goes 
on to say in verse 13. And you bring the stolen, the 
lame and the sick. Thus, you bring an offering. 
I mean, that that's in the Bible ought to make us all hang our 
head in shame at this point. I mean, the sick, you know what? 
I'm a wicked man. I have remaining corruption. 
I'm not going to say I wouldn't be tempted. You know, if there 
was a beast that would fetch me more money at the market, 
I wonder. I hope I wouldn't do it, but I might bypass that one 
to go to another. But did someone would steal the 
sacrifice? that somebody would take another 
person's animal and offer it up as their own? I mean, as a 
general rule, if you're stealing a sacrifice, you've hit rock 
bottom. You probably can't get worse. 
You are probably bottomed out with the bad. Stealing someone 
else's and offering it up as their own to God. As if God's 
not going to know what you've done, as if God's not going to 
be concerned with what you've done, as if God is just going 
to say, hey, you did a good job, at least you stole the one that 
wasn't sick. At least you took one that wasn't 
lame. At least the one you stole has 
both eyes good on you. That'll never happen, brethren, 
because it is to prostitute the sacrificial system, to steal 
something and offer it up as one's own, and then have the 
God to call it sacrifice? Not only did that not cost you 
anything, but you committed a felony in order to perpetrate this particular 
act of religious worship. It's really an amazing situation. And then notice, in terms of 
accusation, God pronounces a curse upon them. Verse 14, But cursed 
be the deceiver, who has in his flock a male, and takes a vow, 
but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. Why? For I am a 
great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is to be feared 
among the nations. You see, this ought to drive 
worship. This ought to be what we think 
about concerning worship. It ought not to be, what is the 
bare minimum I can do to get away with this? The driving force 
ought to be the consideration that God is a great King, that 
God is majestic, that He is infinite, that He is eternal, that He is 
unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, 
and truth, that He is the one that Isaiah saw on the year that 
King Uzziah died, the Lord high, lofty, His robe filling the temple 
itself, the seraphim crying out, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord 
of hosts. It is because God is a great 
King, it is because God is who He says He is, this ought to 
affect us as we come into the public place to worship our great 
God. This is the consideration that 
must fill our minds. So there's accusation. Notice, 
secondly, the response by the people. They're just amazed. 
How have we dishonored you, 6B? In what way have we despised 
your name? What have we done? What's the 
matter? We've gone through the motions. 
We've done what you've called us to do. We have engaged in 
the forms. You see, it's not simply the 
forms. Now, having said that, we don't 
throw forms out. Our confession, the Reformed 
confessions, speak of the elements of worship. Those things commanded 
by God. Those are forms. Those are things 
we must do. We must sing the Bible. We must 
pray the Bible. We must preach the Bible. We 
must see the Bible in the sacraments. Those are things that are commanded 
by God. We do not dispense with the forms, 
but we do not rely on the forms to the neglect of the heart. 
We need former element with the heart engaged, understanding 
who God is, coming before Him as a son before His Father and 
a servant before His Master, underscoring the great reality 
that He is God and we're not. He is our Creator and we are 
the creature. He is our Redeemer and we are 
the redeemed. So brethren, it is important 
that we have the elements in place, but it is important that 
we bring the heart to the elements so that we do not say, how have 
we dishonored you? Notice secondly, they ask, how 
have we perverted sacrifice? 7b. Just amazing. People can 
be in sin and not really even know it. People can be in sin, 
going through the motions, and if Malachi the prophet had not 
come, guess what's going to happen? They would perpetuate this heartless 
engagement in the form. They would perpetuate this madness, 
taking lame, taking sick, taking blind, and even taking animals 
from their neighbor, and bringing them to God, and somehow think 
that they were worshipping Him. Somehow think that they were 
doing service to God. somehow think that this was acceptable 
worship. I wonder if at times we don't 
fall prey to this. We go to church because we have 
to. We go to church because we must. We go to church because 
that's what we're supposed to do. But we don't pray to God, 
Lord, give me the heart so that I desire to be there. You know, 
it's simply not the case that God made some people really disciplined 
and really faithful and everybody else has to work at it. This 
morning, I mentioned, read your Bible. There's not a class of 
people that God just put the seal of approval on and said, 
you're going to be the exemplary Bible readers. No, they work 
hard. They get up early. They deny 
themselves. They seek to be faithful, not 
just for one week. Not just for one year, but for 
40, 50, 60, 70, or 80 years. The longer I live, and the longer 
I'm a Christian, certainly the longer I'm a pastor, it's faithfulness 
in the small things. You want the key to the Christian 
life? Faithfulness. Faithfulness. Faithfulness. In case you missed it, faithfulness. Read your Bible, and pray, and 
go to church. But I want to be a super-duper 
Christian. Read your Bible, pray, and go to church. I want to do 
things for Jesus. Read your Bible, pray, and go 
to church. I want to be used by God. Guess 
what? Read your Bible, pray, and go to church. And do that 
for the rest of your life until you drop dead. That's the key 
to the Christian life. There's no key, brethren. It's 
just doing what God says to do each and every day. The Lord's 
Day comes along. There's not a class of people 
that God put the whammy on. And they wake up at 6 to bluebirds 
turning down their beds and wafting them out and bringing them to 
the coffee and bringing them to the church so that they come 
with joy and thanksgiving into the house of God. No, they fall 
out of bed and they say, Lord God Almighty, I feel about as 
spiritual as a fish. Lord, revive my spirit. Put the 
fear of God in my heart. Fill me with Your Spirit and 
put gladness in my heart so that when I go to the house of God, 
it's not a sham. Brethren, that's what it takes, 
faithfulness. You feel cold. You don't feel 
like going to worship. You know what the devil's answer 
is? Well, then don't go to worship. I don't feel like going to worship." 
Well, then just lay back down on the couch and put the sports 
on. The devil will be right there for you. When you don't feel 
like it, guess where you ought to be? A thousand more times 
is in the house of God. I don't feel like reading my 
Bible on a Thursday morning. Read your Bible and pray to God, 
help me to want to do this. You see, there's not a few people 
out there that have just been zapped with all of this blessing. 
Anybody who is growing in the grace and in the knowledge of 
the Lord Jesus is faithful in the little things. They're faithful 
over time. They're faithful by the grace 
of God to the very end. And along the line in their faithfulness, 
they have cold, hard, dry hearts. They have the spiritual sensitivity 
of a frog. And yet they cry out to God, 
help me. Grant me grace. Melt my spirit. Cause me to go 
with a glad heart. When I come into the house of 
God, let me praise your holy name. And then, this again, it's just 
so symptomatic of us. This is why I love the Old Testament. Because it's so much like us. Look at verse 9. In the midst of all this, in 
the midst of bringing the lame, the maimed, the sick, the wounded, 
the sore, the blind, and the stolen, going through defiling 
God, perverting the sacrificial system, holding in content the 
sacrificial altar, engaging in evil, doing things we wouldn't 
even do to the Persian governor. Here's what we say in verse 9, 
But now entreat God's favor, that He may be gracious to us. I think this is the prophet speaking 
on behalf of the people. This is what they're saying in 
the midst of this calamity. Not only do they not see their 
sin, but in the midst of all this, they're holding out their 
hands saying, Bless us, Lord. Give to us, Lord. Malachi, entreat 
the Lord's favor so He just causes good things to happen. Now, entreat 
God's favor that He may be gracious to us. And now, here's where 
the prophet kicks in. While this is being done by your 
hands, will He accept you favorably? Do you actually think you can 
say, bless me, Lord, bless me, Lord, while you steal a sacrifice 
and trot it to the house of God and offer it up to God? Do you 
think in the midst or in the matrix of that sort of a sacrificial 
or religious life, God's going to say, I'm so pleased with this 
worshiper, I am just going to pour blessings out upon his head? 
No. Now entreat God's favor that 
He may be gracious to us. Entreat God's favor that He may 
prosper us. Entreat God's favor so that He 
may continue to prosper us. The prophet says, while this 
is being done by your hands, will He accept you favorably, 
says the Lord of hosts. Well, that brings us thirdly 
to consider some facts or some implications concerning unacceptable 
worship. The first, we've already seen 
this, is that it is a major sin. We sort of categorize our lives, 
don't we? I haven't committed adultery, 
I don't murder people, I don't take axes out and I don't, you 
know, bury it in their heads. I don't smoke crack. I don't 
deal crack. I don't take crack. You know, 
we associate those things as being sort of the benchmark sin. 
Self-righteousness never really comes into the mix. Pride or 
a lack of humility. Oh, we've just made our peace 
with those. Jerry Bridges calls these respectable sins. Somehow 
gossip and slander really isn't that bad in the church. But if 
you deal crack, wow, that's terrible. Gossip and slander is enough 
to land a sinner in hell forever and ever. Never forget that. You know, we have our lives. 
I'm a good businessman. I don't cheat people. I don't 
murder people. I don't commit, you know, I don't engage with, 
you know, sexual immorality. What's our worship like? What's 
worship like? I mean, for the hour and a half 
that we meet here on a Sunday morning, you know, three-fourths 
of that, you're gone? Is that acceptable worship? Would 
you find that acceptable? If you were a father talking 
to his son, and you're giving him a great lecture, or you're 
talking to him about something he should pay attention to, and 
three quarters of the time he's in space, would you say, boy, 
son, I'm just so pleased that you listened to me? No, you'd 
probably want to cuff him upside the head and say, pay attention. 
Pay attention. Calvin says, few think that they 
pollute God and His name when they worship Him superstitiously 
or formally, as though they had to do with a child. You know what the root meaning 
of glory is? Heavy. God is heavy. Not spatially, not mass-wise, 
He's not a child. He's not an equal. He is not 
in the same category of being that we are. It's not dog, man, 
angel, God. God's in a separate category 
altogether. He's the Creator. We're the creature. We have much more in common with 
a dog. We have much more affinity with 
a worm. We have much more that binds 
us with the leech. God is separate. God is, in the 
language of verse 14, a great king. And I think Calvin is right. Few think that they pollute God 
and His name when they worship Him superstitiously or formally 
as though they had to do with a child. But we see that God 
Himself declares that the whole of religion is profane and that 
His name is shamefully polluted when men thus trifle with Him." 
Don't play games with God. You don't bring God down to your 
level. You don't tame God. You don't 
domesticate God. You don't try to mold God. You don't try to form Him into 
something that you can't really relate to. He is God and there 
is no other. Our task, our blessed privilege 
a la redemption is to come before this great God and to honor Him 
and to worship Him and to praise Him and to adore Him. That's 
the privilege of Christianity. A second implication is that 
it is a deceptive sin. It is a deceptive sin. We can't 
fall into it and not even realize that we have done so. Verses 
6 and 7, in what way have we despised your name? Stuart says, the priests knew 
the sacrificial laws by heart, as was required for their job. Ignorance was not the problem. 
God was not advising them of considerations that were not 
their thinking. Malachi, like all the Orthodox 
prophets, was not calling his audience to new standards, but 
back to old ones. I hope you haven't learned anything 
tonight. I hope you're not going, wow, 
you mean I actually have to pay attention and try to honor God 
when I gather together? Of course you do. These people 
knew it as well. And yet, down the road, going 
through the motions, they forgot what they were present for. They 
forgot the big picture. If I were to ask you, why do 
you go to church? If we were to ask that question 
to professing Christians all over Canada, what sort of answers 
do you think we might get? You know what the number one 
answer ought to be? To worship God. I wonder if that 
would be the number one answer. Well, because I see my friends. 
Not bad to see friends. There's good coffee at our church. 
Not bad to drink good coffee. In fact, it's bad not to drink 
good coffee. What's the primary emphasis on 
the Lord's Day? It's to worship. Let that sink 
in. Let that ruminate in your soul. Let that affect how you function, 
how you operate, how you orchestrate your life. You know, in order 
to honor the Lord, it probably helps to be awake. So perhaps, 
a good night of sleep on a Saturday. What do you mean? I've got to 
reorganize my life? I'm not telling you what you 
need to do. I am telling you that if my son 
was getting a lecture and he dozed off, I'd probably wrap 
him one, not in the head because that would be bad, but I'd give 
him some sort of an encouragement to let him know that his sleeping 
while I'm speaking to him is not acceptable. You see, worship 
of the triune God is crucial. A third implication. Again, we've 
already seen these, just going to flesh it out a little bit 
more. It is concerned with externals only. Verses 7 and 8. We go through the motions, but 
we don't bring the heart. Remember Jesus' indictment of 
the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 23, 23 and 24. Woe 
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe 
of mint, and anise, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier 
matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith." I always 
see in my mind's eye these men weighing out these little tiny 
seeds. I think there's a cheese that has, I think, cumin on it, 
right? Gouda, they put some cumin seeds 
on there. You got a big wheel of gouda, 
and you got these little specks that look like fleas on the cheese. Go and enjoy your cheese tonight. 
Those are tiny, aren't they? You know what tithe means? It 
means 10%. So you got however many pounds 
of these cumin seeds, or how many ounces, I don't know how 
you would deal with it, they gotta weigh these out into the 
little bags so that they can trot down to the temple and present 
their tithes. Mint is very light, isn't it? 
It's leaves, or leaves. Anise, I'm guessing, is another 
type of seed. It escapes me currently. But 
they're weighing these things out, but you have neglected the 
weightier matters of the law. You may bring the mint and the 
anise and the cumin, but you forgot justice and mercy and 
faith. This might translate into our 
particular situation. You tithe the mint and the anise 
and the cumin, but during the week you don't ever think about 
justice. You never ask God to stop abortionists. You never pray to God for the 
civil governments that try to rein in or hedge in evil and 
wickedness. Forget about mercy. You never 
do anything kind to a brother or sister. Paul says, let us 
do well or let us do good to all the household of faith. And 
faith, the living, vibrant, breathing act, the vital religion, These 
things were neglected by the Pharisees, but boy, they had 
the mint and the anise and the cumin. See, it's not just the 
right place at the right time. It's the right place at the right 
time with the right disposition, the heart. Again, I'm not saying 
throw out the elements, throw out the forms, just show up and 
we'll be led by the Spirit. That's the most terrifying thought 
ever. God has instituted specific elements 
that the New Covenant Church is to obey. And it's in doing 
that, praying that the Lord of the harvest or the Lord of the 
heavens and earth would fill our hearts with the Spirit and 
that we might engage properly. And then fourthly and finally, 
it provokes the wrath of God. It provokes the wrath of God. 
Offer such sacrifices to your pagan governor. Verse 9, entreat 
the Lord that He may be gracious to us while this is being done 
by our hands. Will He accept you favorably? 
Notice verse 10 to see this provocation of God. Verse 10, this is God 
through the prophets saying. You see, The original Hebrew 
didn't have the quotation marks, so the insertion of quotation 
marks is a judgment call on the part of the translators to try 
and figure out who's saying what. I think they got it right here 
in verse 10. God, through the prophet, says, Who is there even 
among you who would shut the doors, so that you would not 
kindle fire on my altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you, says 
the Lord of hosts, nor will I accept an offering from your hands. 
You know what he says? Is there one Israelite among 
the people there that will take a two by four, put it across 
the doorway to the temple, and nail it shut? That's what God says in this 
instance. Because when you come into the 
house of God and you forget the God who owns the house, when 
you neglect to give Him the honor and the glory and the adoration 
that is due, His most holy name, what is His response? Board up 
that house. Don't even bother. Don't even 
go there. Who is there among you who would 
shut the doors so that you would not kindle fire on My altar in 
vain? So that you would not go through 
this sham? So that you would not engage in this hypocrisy? 
It's better to shut the house of the Lord down than to continue 
to prostitute it by your waywardness. This is exactly what Jesus says 
in the book of Revelation. He will take the lampstand away. Churches will not follow the 
Lord and obey his commandments. They can expect judgment from 
on high. In conclusion, we need to understand 
what the Bible says concerning God. James Montgomery Boyce said, 
to worship God, we must know who God is. But we cannot know 
who God is unless God first chooses to reveal Himself to us. God 
has done this in the Bible, which is why the Bible and teaching 
of the Bible need to be central in our worship. Remember the 
Protestant Reformation. What was central in the churches 
of those days? It was the altar. The pulpit 
was off to the side. The Mass was central. The Word 
was corollary. The Protestant Reformation, the 
fact that there's pulpits in the center place in a Protestant 
church is theologically driven. It's not just aesthetics, but 
it is theology. It is communicating that central 
to our worship is the word of the living God. We don't put 
it off to the side. It's not a pep talk to encourage 
us along. It's not a ten-minute homily. 
It's not some words of wisdom. It isn't, be the best you can 
be. It is the declaration of the entirety of God's Holy Word. Law, prophets, writings, and 
gospel. Brethren, that is what we need 
in the church today, is good, sound theology that will drive, 
hopefully, good biblical worship. Secondly, if you followed what 
I said, 1.6 to 2.9 is an indictment primarily of the priests. So 
this, at least, gives us a good implication. A necessary one, 
I derive, the need for responsible leadership. The need for men 
who are called by God, men who are recognized by Christ's Church, 
men who are ordained into office, and men who can preach the Bible 
and who know theology. Responsible leadership. Not men who can move the crowds, 
not men who can build massive buildings, not men who can shuck 
and jive like celebrities, but men who faithfully, 16 ounces 
to the pound, expound the Word of God and strive to do what 
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4. Moreover, it is required of stewards 
that they be found faithful. You know, the best thing you 
can pray for your pastors is that they would be faithful, 
that they would be men of the Word, that they would be students 
of the Word, that they would be students of those Puritans, 
and Reformers, and the Fathers, and the good theology that Christ 
has given to His Church through faithful teachers. That's the 
emphasis in Ephesians 4. The Lord Jesus ascends on high, 
He leads captivity captive and He gives gifts to men. In the 
context, that isn't tongue speaking and prophesying. The gifts given 
to men in that context are men who are apostles, men who are 
prophets, men who are pastors, men who are teachers. And you 
know what Christ has done for 20 centuries? He's given those 
faithful men, not perfect men, not infallible men, but men who 
knew the Bible, men who knew theology. And it would be a fool 
today who would say, I don't need that. That is to disregard 
the ascended Christ and his gifts given to his church. Pray that 
your pastors would be faithful men. And finally, The way to 
be a true worshipper is to be saved by grace through faith. 
There's no true worship. No true worship from an unregenerate 
heart. No true worship from an unbeliever. Unbelievers may be in the right 
place. Unbelievers may sing the songs. 
Unbelievers may go through the motions. But to duly and properly 
worship the Lord God Almighty, you must be born again. You must 
come to Christ. You must believe on the Lord 
Jesus. You must come to the One alone 
who is able to save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through 
Him. it is at the cross that we learn 
to worship our God. So come to the cross and worship 
your God and honor him the way he deserves. Well let us pray. Father we thank you for the word 
of God and we thank you for its clarity and for the continuing 
application of all Scripture for our lives. Help us in our 
church to worship you in spirit and in truth. Help us not to 
simply go through motions, but God help us to bring not only 
good sacrifice, but to bring more importantly, our hearts. 
And we ask now that you would go with us and watch over us 
and bring us together again that we may praise and worship and 
glorify you. We ask these things through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen.